A Quick Wander to Death Valley

[MacDuncan 131]

I had a couple days to spare and noticed that Death Valley wasn't yet scorching hot.  Sure, some wind and some mid 90's, but that sounded ok, especially since I tried to go in March and didn't make it.  Royboyz was zipping by then, and this time, I might get to see Goofy fly by.

I called a few buds, but had already planned to go solo if need be, but luckily, one fella was ready to explore at a moments notice.  Plans were to drive separate, leave by 11 am Sunday, meet at Panamint Springs in the afternoon, and get a ride in before sunset. Then Beer -Fire- lounge.  Monday morning plan was to zip up the 190 to saline valley, turn up and over Hunter mountain to teakettle, then the racetrack, lippincott, and home to Panamint. Beer -Fire- lounge.  Tuesday morn would be to drive trucks to Titus canyon entry and ride the canyon and then go to the top of Chloride cliff overlook, and then cruise home. Got Home at 10:30 pm Tuesday night.  zip- zam-zoom. 

This report will be old news for the experienced SDAR riders, but should help some folks who haven't gone yet target a spectacular place to ride....

Cruised by Darwin Falls Sunday eve after picking our spot in Panamint Springs, but didn't hike back to the oasis, but did cruise half way to Darwin town, with a different oasis about halfway there, and stopped off at the mine atop the Falls. Super nice way to start the riding!

Beautiful Big Country!

The next morning we headed out for a loop.  Guess where we were going today?   

 

Warm weather and nice ride up the windy asphalt to Saline Valley:

A nice smooth ride over broken asphalt that casually winds through the high country, and shocking that I needed to put on a jacket as the temp was about 15+ degree cooler up at that higher altitude. Beautiful Joshua tree valleys and a tight volcanic canyon that eventually put you in pinyon forests just as you turn to go up Hunter mountain.  Great views to the south of the sand dunes and Panamint valley:

"Hey, that's our campsite down there"   

Hunter mountain was much nicer than I expected, as it was beautiful cool weather and if you looked to the north east you could see the Sierra's snow capped ridge. After riding atop the mountain, the decent was nice as we entered more open valleys, it was fantastic:

It was like floating on air as we cruised down to the valley floor. smoooooth varoom  !!

At some point, I was thinking that we were only a couple/few miles from TeaKettle Junction.

Then I did the silly thing of opening it up a bit, even day-dreaming a bit-  casually riding a bit.......  and thinking that I had read sometime in the last year that Hunter Mountain had some tricky sand..... heck, I saw some sand back up there, and no big, and I saw some dirt that looked it would be mushy and slippery if wet...  but we just rode between the jeep foot deep trenches that were concrete dry...... So I opened it up a bit more....  all good.... Until-.....

What the heck, in a moments notice, my front tire was spraying a V through some very strange material like the bow of a boat pushes water aside.....and my bike began to float as if on ice. I had better slow down...  and I did, but was still unable to control the drift with both axles deep in this rubbish ....  and ba-boom, front tire slipped away.

My buddy saw me enter the sci-fi dirt and saw dust spray away to the left and right...... and then a big 15 foot high explosion of dust.....  The stuff was like talcum powder, and thank goodness, when I landed, it was like a big pillow....  But I looked like a marshmallow of dust - haha.  That rubbish of powder was every where.  I was a 1/4 inch deep inside my googles, my dash board and GPS were almost unable to find, it was inside my helmet, my boots, and my pants....   Damn!

Oh, so maybe that was the sand people talked about.... haha.  All good, the Tea Kettle survived!

The landing spot was nice, best landing spot I ever had in regard to density of rock and dirt! Just off to the right behind rear tire.

If you look at the pic above you can see that someone tried to make another road to parallel this one, and it was a little bit better. Next time, slower, and even some duck waddle if necessary as I do not want to nap there again!

Next.... On to TeaKettle, to deliver my teakettle, and to pound out some clothing and find some way to remove the talc powder from hell from

everything, dang,

wiping it didn't even remove it all and I still couldn't read the GPS, not that I really needed it, but... .And Iwanted to move some dust from gas cap.... etc...   So, although a bit embarrassing, I used my hydration pak water to mouth spray screen to clear the GPS view... and dashboard....  yep, a funny way to wash the bike in the wilderness...

what a newb!    :

Next, the race track, super cool, except the numb nuts who do not treat it respectfully.  Pretty impressive place and nice to see. Not far from teakettle junction. Pic doesn't show the spectacular water mirage across the expansive basin, but still a super cool place to see.

Next, Lippincott to Saline Valley road.  Lippincott was quite easy, but that comfort may have been also due to having the perfect bike for a quick trip down to the valley floor:

We had hoped for a shady spot, and should have stopped at the cabins at the top of Lippincott, but by the time we reached Saline Valley road, we decided to have a bite anyway:  (the rock pile behind me is the Lippincott indicator if going up instead of down)

A nice ride up the valley and then a return trip back along the morning's route.  Except, a quick stop at Crowley's viewpoint.  I read that if you get on the dirt and head east for a bit right out of the viewpoint there is a nice overlook away from the crowds.  There was one, and it was nice:

Next, food, SHOWER, make sure the bike was all good for the next day's adventure, Beer, BBQ - Lounge:

The next morning we drove trucks to the Trailhead and parked 20 feet from the hiway. And away we went to the canyon:

The views just getting to the canyon were very nice!!  This pic doesn't capture the beauty of the different tones of green and red and purple minerals that pop-out while riding!

 

There are 3 very Large big horned sheep in this pic, but it will be like finding Waldo for you , but for the riders, it was nice to see such large majestic animals roaming through the rough terrain:

At first when we entered the actual Titus canyon I was a bit underwhelmed as I may have been spoiled by Fish Creek and the Mud caves, etc...

But towards the end of the canyon, the walls got higher and steeper and the road became more narrow, so it truly became appreciated as a wonderful sight to see!

and 

and 

Upon leaving the canyon, I found myself at the road below the 3 mile drive from the mouth of the canyon alone. Hmmm, we had used the radios as such a wonderful way to keep track of all things to discuss while traveling at 50 mph in the dirt... like, jeep approaching, deep rut, tight corner, etc...  as much of the time due to dust, one rider was a few hundred yards behind the other...... but there was that one time I tried smoke (dust) signals instead - haha. 

Well, I radioed my bud over and over....  and just as I was about to begin backtracking... with some difficulty since the canyon is one-way, my buddy was headed my way.  Apparently, he forgot to attach the helmet kit wires and they came up missing.  He walked back up into the canyon, but couldn't find anything....   by the way, hikers and bicyclists do walk up the canyon, so be careful not to zip zam too much.

We went without communication as we headed to the Chloride cliff turn out.... There, we had a short snack break and checked out bikes and gear.

Oh, there you are......  We had the cables with us all along    wrapped around the axle for safe keeping!

 

It was a fantastic ride up to the cliff overlook, with some mines and other historical info along the way:

As we reached the top, the wind was howling and there was a chill in the air, but the views were spectacular as we looked over Badwater. Heck, that would have been a fantastic place to camp overnight (not sure if you can??) if wandering through on an adventure bike!

From there, we ventured east from the 3-way intersection of Chloride road (still out in the dirt) and took a trip where we had no idea if it would work out.... but we still had a full rotopax, so some undirected wandering was calling us out to explore.....  we found random turns and twists and came out not too far from the trucks.  After we put on some casual clothes and loaded the bikes, we went over to Beatty to gas up and head home... Yikes.... a gnarly wind down the 373/127 to Baker.  Passed about 3 cars in that 2 hour cruise..... and then avoided semis using 2 lanes occasionally on the 15 south. Fog atop Cajon pass, pouring rain at the bottom, but easy traffic at this time...... so a good choice.

In retrospect, a damn nice wander in Death Valley for 3 days, 2 nights    Hope you get to ride there soon (or again).  Cheers. 

[Mikey777 44]

Nice write up and great pics!

[simicrintz 177]

^^^^^^

X2-that was fun to read (and happy that your dirt nap was mostly uneventful!)!

[tntmo 887]

Nice ride report, good pictures and it appears to have been a great adventure.  I have not ridden DV, really need to make it happen.

[Bub_Hannah 174]

Fantastic write-up and photos!  Thanks for sharing.

[Wierdrider 187]

You know, we already have a CID in this club!!!🤣

I couldn’t find any sheep, but I found a few armadillo in the photo 👍

 

[Goofy Footer 539]

Great pics and thanks for taking the time on the RR. Looks like a great weekend in the park and one of the last trips there for this spring as the heat is rolling in.

I really like staging / camping in Panamint over the other Stovepipe & Furnace Creek. It is a much better location for riding dirt. Darwin is close, Nadeau is right there etc

I was at Teakettle one week ago in the morning exactly. The ride up to Cerro Gordo was fun if you ever want to include that in a loop. Did the WR need refueling in your Panamint to Racetrack loop?

Silt suuucks! There is some along the railroad just east of Split Mtn Road in SD, @hodnettjj saw me disappear and cartwheel thru the moon dust before.

 

[Goofy Footer 539]

On 4/16/2021 at 8:53 AM, tntmo said:

Nice ride report, good pictures and it appears to have been a great adventure.  I have not ridden DV, really need to make it happen.

Let’s Go!!

 

(prob next fall when it cools down)

[royboyz 36]

Nice report and sounds like you packed a lot into 3 days

 

[kkug 146]

Good Job -- enjoyed the dusty pictures . 

[MacDuncan 131]

Thanks fellow riders, it was a rewarding trip. Goofy, not much of a trip compared to a whole BDR (or Royboyz BDR's north and south), but it felt like exploring, so all good, had to use the time window I had....  and by the way Goofy, I had a few buds who were looking to buy rotopax in town, but couldn't find any, so the WR in Death Valley had about the same gas range as my 525, so mid-ride, I put in my rotopax gallon, and he had bought a Gas Bag, so he dropped in a gallon too (that loop to Teakettle was only about 120 miles).  The bag was quite a bit more money to buy than a rotopax, and I wasn't digging it at first, but he strapped it on, and it worked out great.  Upon refilling, he simply rolled it up to a smaller size, kinda cool. 

Goofy and Royboyz, some stories and pics are due from your recent adventure. Kug and Wierdrider, dusty was an understatement in regard to that sticky #@!&#  silt, and CID should be proud! Mikey and Simi, hope to see your DV pics soon, on a small bike, or a big one!. tntmo, you could do that ride on your scooter, and Bub, I am preparing a new to me bike that I can ride from east county to some farther away dirt locations like you do with your tiger, but not until I get some work done on it so I don't get stuck on the side of a hill too easily.... although that could easily still happen....   (protection mostly- but so many things are not currently in stock across the moto accessories internet these days, and local shops are trying to stock as well) - soon though.... so some patience.....    Wierdrider, the armadillos are : 2 almost right in the middle, and the 3rd is up in the top right shadow, but it is likely all you see is the white horn and tail) haha

DSM8 (Dave), thanks for your recent Death valley postings and info, it was helpful.... and a motivator! For those considering Death Valley, Goofy also has shared tons of info to help others! Thanks.  Cheers to all. Mac

 

[shutterrev 469]

Great writeup and pics, thanks for sharing! 

[Goofy Footer 539]

On 4/20/2021 at 7:17 AM, MacDuncan said:

 

I've ridden there a few times over the years and even hosted a couple SDAR group rides there.

The Racetrack loop is a great one from Panamint, I like going UP Lippincott but it's fun both directions. I remember it as 120-125 miles too.

@MacDuncan I'm glad you had a good trip. 3 days is a solid amount of time there for the drive. Did the wire gate barrier at the Chloride Cliffs mine look somewhat recent? It looks similar to one @CableJockey and @bboyle9 and I saw open once upon a time. Interesting info on the rotopax vs Gas Bag - did you guys have 1 gallon versions of both?

As the temps in DV rise thru this month, it may become unbearable at lower elevations. You'll have to ride to Cerro Gordo next!